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Moving Slowly IS Chronic Cardio?

06-15-2011, 09:55 PM

I read the Primal Fitness book and Mark says I should aim for 3 to 5+ hours of 50%-75% Max HR of between 104-140 BPM based on my age of 29 years. If I walk or hike my HR doesn't get high enough. So I've been going to the gym and using the bike machine to get my HR in the 120-130 BPM range. But it still sure feels like I'm still doing chronic cardio. Does "moving slowly" really just mean a lower intensity of the same cardio type exercising or am I missing something?

50%-75% is a very broad range. Some people who are used to doing cardio might want to cheat a little bit by making it 70%-75% - they'll always end up at the upper end of the range because if they go lower it doesn't feel like working out to them. I'd say that a constant activity *averaging* at 70% performed for several hours is a bit too much - IMO it's ok for 1 hour per day though, or for 4-5 days per week. If you have the time you should extend the hours though and at the same time take the intensity down to 60%-65%.

Chronic Cardio for me personally involves heart rates of 80% max or more, and at least 45 minutes duration, performed several times a week.

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Chronic Cardio for me personally involves heart rates of 80% max or more, and at least 45 minutes duration, performed several times a week.

If you're in good aerobic condition, this is a hard workout. If you're in lousy shape, oddly enough, it doesn't feel as hard. There's no reason you can't run a marathon at a respectable pace while staying within PB guidelines if you're smart about it. That means training at lower heart rates to build a really good base. For a very fit runner, logging 6 minute miles isn't chronic cardio, it's moving slowly. Others can't sprint that fast. Everything is relative.

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If we're going to get technical, I'd define Chronic Cardio as frequent (more than 3-4 times per week) prolonged (longer than 1 hour) workouts where you push your body near or well beyond the aerobic threshold for the entire duration of the workout. An example would be getting on the elliptical and pushing yourself for an hour to the point where you feel the lactic acid building up, you're breathing really heavily, and you keep the intensity just below the point where you would have to slow down because of lactic acid buildup.

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If we're going to get technical, I'd define Chronic Cardio as frequent (more than 3-4 times per week) prolonged (longer than 1 hour) workouts where you push your body near or well beyond the aerobic threshold for the entire duration of the workout. An example would be getting on the elliptical and pushing yourself for an hour to the point where you feel the lactic acid building up, you're breathing really heavily, and you keep the intensity just below the point where you would have to slow down because of lactic acid buildup.

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If you're in good aerobic condition, this is a hard workout. If you're in lousy shape, oddly enough, it doesn't feel as hard. There's no reason you can't run a marathon at a respectable pace while staying within PB guidelines if you're smart about it. That means training at lower heart rates to build a really good base. For a very fit runner, logging 6 minute miles isn't chronic cardio, it's moving slowly. Others can't sprint that fast. Everything is relative.

Gordo

Gordo

Yup. And I think this is a key part of the "paradox" of Grok as persistence hunter.

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But a marathon runner who can run 6 minute miles and still be "moving slowly" had to start somewhere. If I start at 50%MHR and continue to exercise over a long enough period, I will start to have to up my intensity to maintain in that range as my body heart and muscles adapt to that level of exertion. I would imagine that in not a lot of time I will be jogging at a pretty brisk pace to hit that 50% floor. That's what I don't get. Mark is always trashing joggers but they seem to be the ones doing exactly what the program says to do.

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I am training for a half marathon in August. I really do not consider the 3x a week or so of jogging to be chronic cardio for me. I just enjoy getting outside and getting into shape enough where I can run several miles at an easy pace. Chronic cardio for me is more like people who kill themselves with exercise daily while sabotaging their diet with crappy foods, then wondering why they never get anywhere.

I like the idea of being able to sprint and be able to do a long sustained jog. Your mileage may vary of course.

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What Kvalhion said, sort of. Chronic cardio is exercising so much that you don't enjoy it, you're just pushing yourself to do it. And I think it varies from person to person. What's CC for me might not be for you. I sprint at 5 mph, but that's an easy jog for some people. I see people at the gym running on the treadmill at a speed that would give me a heart attack, but they look like they're taking it slow and easy. It depends on your fitness level what chronic cardio is.

For cardio, I just judge it by how my body feels, like I'm working but not struggling. If that makes sense.

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Think travel. When you went to school as a child you were moving at the right speed for this.

In all of the universe there is only one person with your exact charateristics. Just like there is only one person with everybody else's characteristics. Effectively, your uniqueness makes you pretty average.

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Gordo. How do you define Aerobic. The reason i ask is to establish a baseline for communication

I like the heuristic that Maffetone came up with. 180 minus your age is your maximum training HR. It ensures that you're mostly burning fat and that the adaptations that your body makes are specific to aerobic fitness. Maffetone is well aware of overtraining and excess stress/cortisol and gives you specific strategies for keeping yourself healthy.

Gordo

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If you want to get activity for health than do not bother watching your HR. Just walk or run or skip or go for a bike ride or whatever. Just being active as much as your life permits. If your life does not permit even an hour a day than fix your life and move more.